America Secedes from the Empire

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America Secedes from the Empire

• 1775 - 1783

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April 1775

• Lexington Concord (Mass.)
• War began here, 1st shots were fired

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May 10, 1775

• Second Continental Congress
• Met in Philadelphia
• All 13 colonies represented
• Still no real sentiment for independence
• Wanted King parliament to consent to a redress
  of grievances
• Delegates began to raise money create an army
  navy
• Selected Washington to head the army

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George Washington

• Actually lost more battles than won
• moral force rather than a great military mind

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War

• Fought 14 months before Declaration of
  Independence was issued
• May 1775
• Ethan Allen Benedict Arnold
• Surprised captured British garrison
  at Ticonderoga Crown Point (NY)
• Gunpowder artillery for seize of
  Boston secured

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June 1775

• Battle of Bunker Hill (Breeds Hill)
• British launched a frontal attack
• colonists mowed down the Redcoats
• Colonials store of gunpowder gave out they
  were forced to abandon the hill

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Olive Branch Petition July 1775

• Adopted by the Continental Congress
• Professed American loyalty to the crown begged
  king to prevent further hostilities
• King George III formally proclaimed the colonies
  in rebellion ( Aug 1775)
• NO HOPE OF RECONCILIATION

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What happens now?

• Sept. 1775 King hired Hessians to help fight
• German princes needed money
• Colonists felt betrayed

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War Heats Up

• Oct. 1775 British burned Falmouth (Portland)
• Colonists decided to invade Canada
• Hoped to add 14th colony
• Deprive Britain of a valuable base for striking
  at the colonies
• General Richard Montgomery
• Pushed up Lake Champlain captured
  Montreal

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Dec. 1775 - Quebec

• Montgomery joined at Quebec with General Benedict
  Arnold
• Montgomery killed // Arnold shot
• Remnants retreated up the St. Lawrence River
• French had no real desire to help colonists

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• Jan 1776
• British set fire to Norfolk, Virginia
• Feb 1776
• Colonial victory against Loyalists at Moores
  Creek Bridge, NC
• March 1776
• Evacuation Day colonists forced
  British to evacuate Boston
• June 1776 -- Charleston Harbor
• Colonial victory against an invading British fleet

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Thomas Paine

• 1776 Common Sense
• One of the most influential pamphlets ever
  written
• Called for not simply independence but for a
  democratic republic
• Power should come from the people
• Reject monarchy, embrace
  an independent republic

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Cry for Independence

• June 7, 1776 Richard Henry Lee
• Colonies ought to be free independent states
• July 2, 1776
• Motion was adopted for independence
• July 4, 1776
• Declaration of Independence

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Declaration of Independence

• Thomas Jefferson author
• Formally approved by Congress
• Focused on natural rights
• Colonists were justified
• List of tyrannous misdeeds of George III
  p. 148
• Foreign aid could now be solicited

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Taking Sides

• Patriots
• Whigs
• Younger
• New England
• Presbyterians Congregationalists

• Loyalists
• Tories
• Older
• Anglican
• 20 of population

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Loyalist Exodus

• Regarded as traitors by Patriots
• Estates were confiscated sold (helped finance
  the war)
• Many joined the British army

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General Washington at Bay

• July 1776 British fleet arrives in NY with 500
  ships 35,000 men
• Washington 18,000 ill trained troops
• Outgeneraled outmaneuvered

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Battle of Long Island

• Washington escaped to Manhattan Island
  eventually to the Delaware River
• General William Howe (British)
• Decided not to pursue Washington
• Washington recrossed the ice-clogged Delaware

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Battles

• Trenton Dec. 26, 1776
• Washington surprised captured 1000 Hessians
• Princeton ( 1 week later)
• Surprise attack, victory for America

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Burgoynes Blundering Invasion

• Goal to capture Hudson River Valley (1777)
• General Burgoyne was to push down from Canada
  he would be joined by General Howe
• Howe didnt show up

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Washington

• Moves his army to Philadelphia
• Defeated at Brandywine Creek Germantown
• Moves his troops to Valley Forge for the winter
• Baron von Steuben whipped men into shape

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Battle of Saratoga

• Oct. 17, 1777
• General Burgoyne forced to surrender at Saratoga
  to General Horatio Gate
• Importance of Saratoga
• Revived the colonial cause
• Made
  possible
  foreign
  
  aid from
  France

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French Aid

• Secretly provided Americans with lifesaving
  amounts of gun powder other munitions
• 90 of gunpowder used
• Declaration of Independence Battle of Saratoga
  showed France that colonists were serious

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• Britain offered colonists American home rule
  within the empire
• 1778 France offered America a treaty of
  alliance (Good idea?)

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Colonial War World War

• 1779 Spain Holland enter war against Britain
• 1780 Catherine the Great of Russia
• Armed Neutrality lined up almost all the
  remaining European neutrals against England
• June 1778 Britain evacuates Philadelphia to
  concentrate in NY City
• Washington remained in NY
• Summer 1780 Comte de Rochambeau (French)
  arrived in Rhode Island
• Americans still a little suspicious

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Traitor

• 1780 Benedict Arnold turned traitor
• Plotted to sell out West Point for officers
  commission
• Plot detected

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In the South

• British decided to start in the South move up
• Took Georgia (78-79) Charleston (80)
• Americans Victorious
• Cowpens 1/17/1780
• Kings Mountain 10-7-1780
• Nathanael Greene (A) Charles Cornwallis (B)
• Greene Fighting Quaker used tactic of delay //
  cleared British out of Georgia SC

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Elsewhere

• Sea Frontier
• John Paul Jones
• Commanded American navy
• Destroyed British merchant shipping
• Privateers very successful

• Land Frontier
• Indians
• Paid by King George III to scalp colonists
• George Rogers Clark successful in attacks against
  Britain

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Yorktown

• Cornwallis waited at Yorktown for supplies
• Washington Rochambeau arrived by land
• Admiral de Grasse arrived by sea
• Oct. 19, 1781 - Cornwallis is forced to surrender
• Technically, the war is over
• George III continues for more than 1 year
• British citizens are ready for war to end

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• Peace leaders
• Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Jay
• Instructed make no peace consult with France

• France wanted a weak America (easier to manage)
• John Jay becomes suspicious of France makes a
  deal with Britain

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Treaty of Paris of 1783

• Britain recognized independence of US
• Increased landholdings
• West- Mississippi
• North Great Lakes
• South Spanish Florida
• Share fisheries in Newfoundland

• Loyalists were not to be persecuted land
  restored
• Not followed
• Debts owed to British creditors be paid
• Not followed